Uniper works council welcomes nationalisation plans - Rheinische Post

Uniper's works council chief welcomed plans for the state to buy Fortum's stake in the company and inject a further 8 billion euros ($7.98 billion) as part of a nationalisation of the gas importer, Rheinische Post daily reported on Tuesday.

"We need the state as the main shareholder in order to survive the gas crisis and to master the energy transition in the long term," Harald Seegatz told the paper after Uniper announced details of the plans which still have to be finalised.

The gas giant was in "final discussions" over a deal with the German government and its majority shareholder, the Finnish state-owned energy company Fortum, Uniper said in a statement.

Under the plan being discussed, it was expected the German government would "acquire the Uniper shares currently held by Fortum" and "obtain a significant majority stake in Uniper", the company said.

The government also planned to inject eight billion euros ($8 billion) in cash to prop up the struggling energy company, it said.

One of the biggest importers of Russian gas, Uniper has been squeezed as Moscow has reduced supplies to the continent in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.

Missing deliveries have had to be replaced with expensive supplies from the open market, where prices for gas have skyrocketed, heaping pressure on Uniper.

The German state had already agreed in July to take a 30 percent stake in Uniper as part of an initial bailout agreement.

But Uniper announced earlier this month that the two sides were exploring a possible nationalisation as the energy crisis showed no signs of abating.

The Helsinki stock exchange earlier on Tuesday announced a halt to trading of shares in Fortum amid the talk of an imminent deal on the nationalisation of Uniper.

The Finnish minister responsible for state companies said the Nordic country will "not accept nationalisation without compensation."

"We think it is important that Fortum gets back the eight billion it paid to Uniper and, in general, that Finnish taxpayers do not incur any undue costs in resolving this crisis," minister Tytti Tuppurainen said in Brussels on Tuesday.